Halo Infinite is adding some impressive tools to Forge, the map creator in the game. For the first time ever, players will be able to add Campaign AI to their creations using the AI Toolkit and some amazing new features putting immersive tools in the hands of players. This includes two new canvases (essentially map biomes), 200+ new objects, object collision toggle, lighting improvements, quality of life updates, and more. This update to Halo Infinite’s Forge mode is part of Season 5: Reckoning which launches on Tuesday, October 17. This new update and the AI Toolkit is incredibly detailed so check out the link here which also has a video and detailed blog post on the new features.

This will be a game changer essentially allowing players to create their own Campaign missions and AI game modes using these tools!

After two years of negotiations Xbox has acquired Activision Blizzard King. Activision are some of the publishers of some of the most played and most beloved franchises in gaming history across console, PC, and mobile. Games like Pitfall, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Candy Crush Saga, Farm Heroes Saga, Diablo, Guitar Hero, Starcraft, Hearthstone, and more. You can read Phil Spencer’s statement here the CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

Why did this happen? If we go back several years Activision and Blizzard were fraught with sexual assault allegations across multiple studios from the developers of Call of Duty to World of Warcraft to Overwatch. Nothing was being done about it and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was not going to do anything either. This purchase also includes a generous severance package for the Activision CEO and he will be out by the end of 2023. This will not be a magic pill for the allegations and charges against the company but this acquisition will place the company under Microsoft that will make sure that these bad practices come to an end, or it will be their name that becomes besmirched next.

Xbox did negotiate with PlayStation that Call of Duty would remain multi-platform for the next ten years as Sony was constantly trying to stop this acquisition from going through. At the end of that time, it will be up to Xbox to decide whether to continue to work with PlayStation but I personally think that has a lot to do with PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan’s sudden retirement, is the mishandling of this acquisition, false statements and lies before the board as well as in the court systems. Phil Spencer has commented that it is best to keep Call of Duty multiplatform as that is what gamers expect as well as because it is a mass selling first person shooter franchise that you wouldn’t want to cut it’s sales by a large portion down to only the Xbox, PC, Switch platforms.

So what does this mean for gaming as a whole? Well, when it comes to the average gamer not a lot will change. A lot of your favorite games will still be available where they are. It is reasonable to assume all Call of Duty games will be on Xbox Game Pass at some point. Xbox has done the great service of enabling servers on older Call of Duty titles to ensure gamers can experience those incredible games from years and years ago just as they were at launch, a huge win for gaming history. In order to remain competitive in the market Xbox has made large acquisitions over the years to bolster its first party studios beyond Halo, Gears of War, and Forza offering a wider variety of games coming from their studios. I think it will be very exciting to see what these studios can do with a budget from Microsoft and the chance to create more unique IP that Activision notably hasn’t done since the early 2000’s.

What does it mean if you’re a fan of PlayStation? Well if you’re part of the console wars and want to argue about your favorite plastic box, this may seem like the end of the world to you. I would argue that had PlayStation made this acquisition, history would show that all these games would be exclusive to their service and NOT one would ever be seen on Xbox and they would be praised for doing so. There’s a unique double standard against Xbox here and the onus is on them to do what they want with their new properties. While I wouldn’t expect all games from ABK to be multiplatform, you can assume some will not be. Much like Bethesda’s Starfield, some games will be designated in the best interest to be an Xbox Studios exclusive title. So perhaps it is time to simply embrace gaming as a whole rather than choose sides. There will be benefits for owning each console/PC and the person who can own all of them ultimately wins when it comes to player choice of what game to play.

Below you can see a handy chart of Xbox’s first party studios composed by Klobrille. What do you think of the Xbox acquisition of Activision, Blizzard, King? Let me know in the comments below.

Silent Hill: Ascension, the digital event where the audience decides the fate of the characters of the Silent Hill canon each episode premieres October 31, 2023. You can pre-install and find out more at this link. Please note there may be mature themes on the website. You’ll be prompted to pre-install on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. What do you think of Silent Hill: Ascension? Will you be joining in on this limited series? Let me know in the comments below!

Sony has announced the new PlayStation 5 slim models coming this November. For the digital version, without the Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive, you will be able to purchase a Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive add-on that is only compatible with this new slim model should you want a disc drive later on. Sony claims the new slim PS5 model has been “reduced in volume by more than 30%, and weight by 18% and 24% compared to the previous models.” The new PS5 is now slightly shorter by 1.25 inches, and slightly narrower, by 1.73 inches. It will weigh approximately 3 pounds less.

There’s no change in price for the standard PlayStation 5 model. The redesigned PS5 will launch next month for $499.99. However, the PS5 Digital Edition is getting a price increase of $449.99 at launch. (The original PS5 Digital Edition launched at $399 in 2020.)PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – $499.99PS5 Digital Edition – $449.99If you purchase the PS5 Digital Edition can purchase the Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive separately for $79.99. Which is once again, only compatible with this slim PS5 model and not any older digital edition PS5.These new slim models are also launching with a 1TB SSD which is a slight increase from the 500GB SSD included with the original PS5 console at launch.

I personally see this as a good way for new players to get a PS5. While the PS5 is one of the largest and clunkiest consoles Sony has made, there really is no need to upgrade here for people that already have one. If you would like a larger SSD you can look into options to install one much cheaper than buying a new PS5. What do you think about the PS5 slim models? Let me know in the comments below!

On October 6, 2023, over five months after its launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC, Redfall finally has a 60 FPS update to the game. As part of update 2 for the game, Redfall on console has received a Performance Mode. This also includes several new features to the game as Arkane has promised amid a plagued launch for the game that they would “make things right.”

There are now stealth takedowns, accessibility options, new encounters, more enemies, improved PC performance, performance improvements to hero abilities, weapons, and systems in the game.

Following consistent layoffs at developer studios across the gaming industry and on the wings of a SAG-AFTRA strike with game studios, Telltale Games has reportedly laid off a significant amount of its workforce.

Jonah Huang, a Telltale Games Cinematic Artist tweeted about the layoffs saying that “Telltale laid most of us off in early September.” Huang also noted that he was under NDA and could not say more other than “Games industry, we must UNIONIZE.”

Telltale Games has since responded with a comment spread to multiple outlets and Geoff Keighley shared: "Due to current market conditions, we regrettably had to let some of our Telltale team go recently. We did not take this action lightly, and our commitment to storytelling and finding new ways to do so remains the same. We are grateful to everyone for their dedication along this journey, and we are working to support everyone impacted. All projects currently in development are still in production, and we have no further updates at this time. " – Telltale

In 2018 Telltale closed the studio after mass layoffs and was bought and put under new management in 2019. At The Game Awards in 2019, The Wolf Among Us 2 was revealed, a highly anticipated sequel to The Wolf Among Us. Telltale spent years after the first game bouncing around making different narrative based games around The Walking Dead, Jurassic Park, Guardians of the Galaxy, Borderlands, Batman, and most recently in 2023, The Expanse.

I recently reported on the SAG-AFTRA strike in the videogames industry approving a Strike Authorization Vote with a 98.32% Yes Vote. The latest news comes in that a deal has failed to be reached and a strike is likely to begin. This will impact several companies listed in the strike such as: Activision, Blindlight, Disney, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Take Two Productions, VoiceWorks Productions, and WB Games.

This news comes shortly after the Writer's Guild Of America (WGA) strike ended with a negotiated tentative agreement with The Alliance Of Motion Pictures And Television Producers (AMPTP) after a strike lasting 148 days. The SAG-AFTRA strike in the film industry against The Alliance Of Motion Pictures And Television Producers (AMPTP) is still ongoing. The last strike for SAG-AFTRA in the gaming industry lasted 183 days and took place from 2016-2017.

I think it is important to remember with these strikes that these workers unions are often asking for more pay and regulations to be protected in the workforce and to make enough money to be allowed to live around the place that they work. While it may be inconvenient to you that games are delayed or your favorite actors don’t show up in some games as studios attempt to hire non-union actors, it is worth looking at this issue from someone else’s perspective.

What do you think of the strikes in the gaming industry? Let me know in the comments down below!

As a part of the wave of recent layoffs in the videogames industry amidst a year of some of the most highly anticipated and high quality games in years, PlayStation Developer Naughty Dog known for games such as Uncharted and The Last of Us, is laying off some of its contracted developers. With most of the workers let go were from the Quality Assurance Testing Department, which is very important for maintaining a quality and bug tested experience for games. Other Departments such as art and production were downsized. Kotaku broke the story that no full time developers were being let go but that the 25 that were let go were not receiving severance pay and were also told to keep quiet about the news of the layoffs.

This year we’ve seen numerous studios with varying degrees of success in the gaming industry face large amounts of layoffs from Epic Games just last week, to 343 Industries who makes Halo games for Microsoft. Layoffs this year have included companies such as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group, and the closure of Volition who made Red Faction and Saints Row.

This news might lead one to ask “Why are there all these layoffs when these studios are releasing games with record breaking profits, cutting millions of dollars of bonus checks to their CEO’s while they layoff workers just after launching a game?” It’s a good question, why are developers not allowed to celebrate in the success? Why is it that the cuts in the industry start at the bottom when it is often the leadership that is at fault when a game is not successful. It is often marketing executives in the board room that will suggest radical features such as pay to win, microtransactions, forcing games into a live service model that wasn’t the intention of the original design by developers, and it’s all motivated by profit.

This is not even a problem just relegated to the gaming industry, we see it across all industries with multiple strikes in the labor force from actors, writers, voice actors, auto workers, and more. We see CEO’s from every company buying a new Super Yacht while their workforce struggles for basic cost of living expenses in a time where inflation is high and wages have been stagnant. These companies often demand loyalty from their workers but offer none in return. Older generations would stay at a job all their life and have a pension and retirement benefits while now, as soon as it comes time to pay up or share bonus checks, we’re hit with a wave of layoffs and your time at the company and your loyalty means nothing.

What do you think of the layoffs in the game industry? Is there some sort of fix for this issue? Let me know in the comments down below.

As September 2023 ends Crystal Dynamics’ live service videogame Marvel’s Avengers is deleted from online digital storefronts. While it is likely based on Embracer Group acquiring Crystal Dynamics from Square Enix and realizing this title was not generating enough revenue to cover Marvel’s character licensing fees, it is a solemn day to see any game removed from existence in such a way as this.

Agent 64: Spies Never Die is adding Split-Screen Co-op to its roster of retro and nostalgic features of the era of Nintendo 64 first person shooters like GoldenEye 007. Developed and Published by Replicant D6 this action adventure shooter promises all the things you loved from N64 FPS games with modern controls and performance.I played the demo during Steam Next Fest on 6/17/22. I found the game to be super nostalgic and entertaining. It took me back to the good old days and I felt like I hadn’t missed a beat. I can’t wait to play more of this when the game comes out! Might even hook up my USB/Wireless N64 Controller for added nostalgia.Check out my video of the demo below and continue reading for more information on this awesome game!

9/30/23 Check out my video review and unboxing of the 8bitdo Retro Keyboard. Bluetooth/2.4G/USB-C, Hot Swappable, Gaming Keyboard with 87 Keys, Dual Super Programmable Buttons for Windows and Android. There are two editions, the N Edition (NES Themed) and the Famicom Edition. Dual Super Buttons - offers large, programmable keys A and B buttons! Map anything to the Super Buttons instantly without using software. Classic power status LED, with independent control panel. Supports 8BitDo Ultimate Software V2 for custom keyboard mapping. Unboxing Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSiKflGZp7VqqKaBxPttMgLP_IdIussAN Gear Reviews Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSiKflGZp7Vpgotlq-JJDnB1rELwVhs0U Purchase 8Bitdo Retro Mechanical Keyboard with my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3t6vWKg Join My YouTube Community as a Member & support the channel for exclusive perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCchXCQbuqCbWs-kCpmS7rOw/join Let me know what you think in the comments below.

The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake is a highly anticipated Remake of of the original game made by Bioware in 2003 with a sequel in 2004. This remake was announced in 2021 during a PlayStation Showcase as a PlayStation 5 exclusive and was being developed by Aspyr. Aspyr is known for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, Mythforce, as well as re-releases of older Star Wars titles on new hardware such as Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Star Wars: Republic Commando, and even porting KOTOR titles to modern platforms. In 2022 however, the KOTOR Remake was handed to a support studio that was already helping on the title, Saber Interactive due to turmoil and delays from Aspyr.The most recent news around the KOTOR Remake is that trailers have been pulled from YouTube. This caused the internet to naturally assume that Sony was quietly purging the game from history and cancelling it with little fanfare. Multiple outlets have reported that a Sony representative commented on the issue: “As part of normal business, we delist assets with licensed music when the licenses expire.” While this is somewhat true, the entire PlayStation Showcase still exists on YouTube with the trailer and its music intact. Also important to note is the only music in the trailer is the Star Wars theme owned by Disney. It begs the question “Why wouldn’t you just renew the rights and keep the trailer on YouTube to build up more hype for a highly anticipated game?”
Well the answer to that question remains to be seen. I myself hope the game isn’t cancelled and this should probably clear up some fears of that. We also haven’t seen or heard anything about this game since 2021, it is possible Saber Interactive is hard at work and will share their work when it is ready. Stay tuned for more updates. Let me know in the comments below what you think!

I really dislike the hate reviews and hot takes that "game journalism" and content creation has fallen into. If everything is trash, then how do you know what's good? If you spend all your time being negative and playing games you don't like, are you even happy and fulfilled in life?

I definitely think we need a big change in the industry and some integrity. It's perfectly fine to be honest and critical, but there's no objectivity if everything is trash and you confuse your subjective opinion with objective truth and use your followers to push that narrative to further harass game developers and toxify the environment.

This is why I started my website to start posting Gaming News & Reviews. I want to change the way things are done. Maybe even just in my own corner of the internet. Review scores are dated and too subjective, aggregated review sites are easily corrupted and manipulated, review bombs can tank the overall score of even a great or a decent game. We’ve seen the recent stories about publications being bribed on Rotten Tomatoes to publish good/bad reviews for a payoff. Where is the journalistic integrity?

RoboCop: Rogue City has released a trailer announcing it’s pre-order content for the game releasing November 2, 2023. By pre-ordering players will receive The Blue Armor from the RoboCop 2 movie and The Pitch Black version of the Auto-9 Weapon. These are both cosmetic items and do not offer any sort of gameplay advantage.

Robocop: Rogue City is priced at $49.99 but for the Alex Murphy Edition at $59.99 players will receive extra items:The Base Game, the OCP Shotgun (Secondary Weapon), the Prototype Version of the Auto-9, The Damaged Armor from the first RoboCop movie, 48 hours early access to the game, and the digital artbook.

I’ve added some images of the content included in Pre-order and the Alex Murphy Edition below. Are you excited for RoboCop: Rogue City? Which version do you like? Personally I need everything here as I am a huge fan of RoboCop. Let me know in the comments!

In an interview with Remedy Writer & Co-Founder Sam Lake said about the Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake,

“It is a significant undertaking in the sense that even if they are old games, just thinking about bringing them up to modern standards and combining them into one, you can see that it’s a big, big project.”

He was later asked if he would reprise his role as Max Payne since he was the visual actor for the character in the first game. (Seen in the image above).

“No comment!” he replied. “That’s going too far.” Lake laughed.

Max Payne is one of my favorite series of all time. It’s a film noir, graphic novel style storyline based in New York about a hard-boiled detective framed for a crime he didn’t commit. It’s the first use of Bullet Time slow motion action in videogames, dual wielding a wide variety of weaponry while diving through the air. What do you think of the latest news on this Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake? Let me know in the comments!

Per a Insomniac Games post on the PlayStation Blog, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will not only have a robust set of Accessibility Features, but will introduce new ones in an effort to allow all players to enjoy the latest Spider-Man experience.

A few additions are: Challenge Level Modifiers, Gameplay Assists, Shortcuts, Game Speed, as well as Audio Frequency Controls. There are also features coming post launch such as Audio Descriptions, Screen Reader, and Captions coming in December 2023.

What do you think about the latest Accessibility Features coming to Spider-Man 2 and the leaps and bounds other games and developers have made in the accessibility space. Let me know in the comments!For more details, read the full blog post here.

Epic Games is reportedly laying off 900 employees, 16% of its workforce. In a memo from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, the layoffs will be from Bandcamp and SuperAwesome. Sweeney also commented that the company will focus more on Fornite content and other codenamed projects. ”For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators. I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.”Fortnite remains one of the world’s most played games based on store rankings on game consoles. Epic also announced the price of V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency, is going up this October. 2800 V-Bucks will now cost $22.99 as opposed to the previous price of $19.99. The Unreal Engine also made by Epic Games is one of the most popular game design engines in the industry. Fortnite users now can create content within Fortnite using a version of Unreal.

While 2023 has been host to many incredible games, there have been widespread layoffs in the gaming industry this year. From Embracer Group, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and now Epic Games. What do you think of the recent layoffs in the industry in comparison to many game releases this year. Let me know in the comments! Also I’d like to wish all of the people best wishes at finding a new job. Hopefully those displaced by these sudden and rampant layoffs will land on their feet.

Stardew Valley Update 1.6 includes some big features that are in the works. Players can expect a new major festival, two new mini festivals, new late game content expanding on each of the skill areas. There’s also new items, crafting recipes, Joja alternatives to end-game quests, 100* new lines of dialogue, Winter outfits for villagers, and a new type of reward for completing billboard requests. PC Support for 8 player co-op is a rather big and often requested feature to be able to help friends on the farm with many more players added. You can also expect small additions and adjustments, a new farm time, new secrets, and more!

If there weren’t already compelling reasons to keep Stardew Valley in your library of consistently played relaxing titles, there certainly is now, because a lot of content is on the way that can be enjoyed with 7 of your closest friends!

Developer ConcernedApe announced the update has no release date and you can see the post on Twitter here.

Jim Ryan, President and CEO, announces retirement after 30 years with Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Check the link here for the entire article from PlayStation.

Horizon: Forbidden West Complete Edition coming to PC Early 2024. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.